Kanye West escalated his legal attack against Coinye, the cryptocurrency meant to offer an alternative to Bitcoin and Dogecoin, by filing lawsuits over trademark infringements against the companies who exchange the currency. Websites like Coinye-Exchange, 0daycoins, and NewChg are all threatened by West's new legal tactics. The creators of Coinye, who attempted to release the currency last week as soon as they heard West was going to take legal action, changed their logo in order to drop the similarity to West. The original Coinye logo features a cartoon version of Kanye wearing his famous shudder shades, and the new logo is a "half-man-half-fish hybrid," as the founders describe it.

But it all seems to be in vain. "Coinye is dead," says a statement on Coinyeco.in. "You win, Kanye."

Mascotte Holdings, West's company, alleges that the "Defendants have willfully and admittedly traded upon the goodwill and notoriety of Kanye West, one of the most famous entertainers and brand names in the world."

"Without hesitation, defendants have usurped Mr. West's name and likeness for the sole purpose of propping up the perceived ‘value' of the defendants' ‘digital coin mine' and its ‘cryptocurrency,'" they continued.